Do you think Richard Nixon was an Anti-Semite?
G R E E N B E R G : Unquestionably. It wasn't
that's too simple because of some of the
w h o is around w h e n [Nixon] is m a k i n g
until the tapes came out that people real­
things w e hear h i m say on the tapes about
these remarks. There's one person in par­
ized the extent of it. B u t as early as the
J e w s i n general. H e talks about J e w s his­
ticular a n d that's H . R . H a l d e m a n . H . R .
1950s, there was awareness in the J e w i s h
torically, a n d s o m e of the t h i n g s about
H a l d e m a n was a certified, bona fide antiSemite. H i s family w a s very prominent in
community that Nixon was someone they
were suspicious of. T h e r e was his affilia­
"Yllocott
tion w i t h the M c C a r t h y i t e right, w h i c h
was quite a n t i - S e m i t i c . . . People have
taken to defining anti-Semitism i n such a
narrow sense, that is to say it consists only
of constant, unremitting hatred of every­
one J e w i s h . T h e y can then say, well, he
worked with [Henry] Kissinger a n d L e n
G a r m e n t and so on, and he helped Israel,
and so therefore he's n o t a n t i - S e m i t i c .
umxA-
uaoA
small
bat*,....
a man
S o u t h e r n California political life. T h e y
wfio-
were these flag-waving, super patriots....
ineajiaMe.
Jhti
kind
<4
talk, you could call it
macho- talk, uiai, fuA attempt
to- fk. o n e 0 $ the, &au£. He, does­
n't dticuM. ievx. Ohat'i,
(Ainq.—he,
not
hii,
doein't
know- arujihina- about it."
H e goaded Nixon into so m a n y of these
remarks. Nixon was a m a n w h o was inca­
pable of small talk. T h i s kind of talk,-you
could call it macho talk, w a s his attempt
to be one of the boys. H e doesn't discuss
sex. T h a t ' s n o t h i s t h i n g — h e d o e s n ' t
know anything about it. T h i s is a corner
bar kind of anti-Semitism.
But I think anybody w h o talks about J e w s
the w a y he did, there is n o other word for
J e w i s h traits in business, which have very
P A R M E T : Fifteen years a g o , w h e n I
it but anti-Semitism.
little to do with the notion that J e w s a r e
w r o t e m y book [Richard
liberals. I think i n this case there's a g e n ­
America],
S M A L L : Defenders of Nixon say, well, it
eral feeling, a dislike for J e w s .
and his
anti-Semitism to a kind of cultural
American anti-Semitism that w a s not
really is not that J e w s a r e J e w s , but that
J e w s tend to be liberal Democrats. I think
Nixon
I a t t r i b u t e d the extent of h i s
K U T L E R : It's always interesting [to note]
extraordinary and that did not really
affect his relationships w i t h people. B u t
material that has been m a d e available
since that point h a s shown that his antiSemitism
was much
uglier than
I
assumed. I w a s surprised that it w a s kind
of a gutter a n t i - S e m i t i s m . F o r s o m e o n e
to w r i t e w h a t I w r o t e n o w in 1 9 9 0
would be ahistorical. After all, history is
revised on n e w evidence.
D A L L E K : It w a s l i k e so m u c h w i t h
N i x o n , t h e r e w a s a q u a l i t y of g r e a t
a m b i v a l e n c e . O n the o n e side, he's full
of s t e r e o t y p i c a l v i e w s of J e w s , a n d at
one point there's a conversation that h e
has
(on tape), in which
Haldeman
c o m p l a i n s that K i s s i n g e r is c o m i n g l a t e
to a m e e t i n g , a n d h e ' s a l w a y s c o m i n g
late. And N i x o n responds, " W e l l , of
course he's late—he's a J e w , isn't he?
J e w s are always coming late." On the
other hand, he does have people like
W i l l i a m Safire a n d L e o n a r d
Garment,
H e n r y Kissinger and H e r b Klein in his
administration, w h o a r e v e r y p r o m i n e n t
President Nixon a n d Israeli P r i m e Minister Golda M e i r a t t h e White House in 1 9 6 9 .
48
F E B R U A R Y
20 0 6
and influential.
How did Nixon come by his attitudes?
DALLEK: Nixon was reared [in a milieu
KUTLER: A n t i - S e m i t i s m lost its l e g i t ­
that fostered] a lower middle class resent­
i m a c y after W o r l d W a r II. W h e n o r d i ­
ment toward J e w s , who were seen as bet­
n a r y A m e r i c a n s w e n t to the
ter off, more successful, better educated,
t h e a t e r a n d saw n e w s r e e l s of the c o n ­
wealthier, and it bred a kind of anger.
c e n t r a t i o n c a m p s , it's at t h a t m o m e n t
movie
in t i m e that a n t i - S e m i t i s m was d e l e g i t -
"9t'i, (ike. exteAqMnq. elie, vn.
RichaAcL YiC>uu%'i, Up;-:
He- fovowj, the dLfjfttAence,
dehu-ten, fdqM, and
utMma.
UnfioAlunaiely,, he chaaleA. the,
uPianq. thing, many, UmeA,."
i m a t i z e d in the U n i t e d S t a t e s . O h , it
exists, but you can't openly exclude
J e w s , y o u can't g o a r o u n d r a n t i n g and
r a v i n g that E l e a n o r R o o s e v e l t is q u e e n
of the world's C o m m i e s and is w o r k i n g
w i t h J e w s to infect A m e r i c a n s w i t h
s y p h i l i s , as s o m e b o d y
Nixon
d i d . In
fact
[ a t ] o n e p o i n t o n o n e of t h e
PARMET: Anti-Semitism was not at all
t a p e s , w h e r e he's r a n t i n g a n d r a v i n g
unusual for the southern California envi­
about blacks and J e w s , finishes u p and
ronment that he was brought up in in the
q u i e t l y says, " B u t o n e can't say t h a t . "
middle of the first third of the 20th centu­
It's l i k e e v e r y t h i n g e l s e i n R i c h a r d
ry. General George Patton was brought up
Nixon's life: H e k n o w s the
difference
nearby and he was very anti-Semitic, l b
between r i g h t and wrong.
Unfortu­
have not been a n t i - S e m i t i c w o u l d have
nately, he chooses the wrong
been unusual.
many times.
Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Vice President Nixon in the 1 9 5 0 s .
thing
Did Nixon dislike Jews because he perceived them as enemies?
DALLEK: T h a t was part of the resent­
PARMET: You can't divorce [his a n t i -
ment. J e w s didn't vote for h i m . H e also
S e m i t i c v i e w s from his] v i e w s o n t h e
many different groups that it was an "us
saw them as part of the intellectual estab­
m e d i a . N i x o n m a d e a lot of p r i m i t i v e
vs. them" kind of thing rather than a spe­
lishment of the country, w h i c h was not
associations of that sort. Look, the m a n
cific anti-Semitism. H e articulated nega­
very friendly to him.
operated on m a n y different levels, w e are
tive a t t i t u d e s m o r e t h a n
talking about his basic gut instincts.
prejudices. H e had no trouble w o r k i n g
"YLiaxm, didn't Puute-
deep-seated
with Kissinger. H e had no trouble work­
a
paAiicuiaA, anunuA
UuiMtftdfyeiuA..Ue had a
paAiicuiaA, anitnui. towaAd
weAuladq. who- diiaqAe&d
with him."
disagreed with him. H e was opposed to so
S M A L L : N i x o n w a s s t r o n g l y opposed
i n g w i t h G a r m e n t . H e had no trouble
to the m a s s m e d i a of the day. W e can
w o r k i n g w i t h S e n a t o r Ribicoff" of C o n ­
see in his archives that his main e n e m i e s
necticut on the welfare bill.
in the m e d i a w e r e the New York
the Washington
ABC,
Post, Newsweek,
Times,
TIME,
KUTLER: [Nixon's] press secretary said,
N B C and C B S . Now, here's the
" W h e n N i x o n i s s p e a k i n g of J e w s , h e
p o i n t : A l l s e v e n of t h o s e w e r e e i t h e r
means liberals." That's not true, though.
GREENBERG: If J e w s were opposed to
o w n e d or edited b y J e w s . W h e n the M y
He's got this riff on psychiatrists: they're
Nixon it was primarily for political r e a ­
Lai massacre affair broke in 1969, it was
all J e w s , t h e y all use marijuana. I hope
sons—perhaps also because they thought
broken by Seymour Hersh, a Jewish
you
h e w a s an a n t i - S e m i t e . M a y b e there's a
A m e r i c a n journalist.
none of this is very rational. Nixon is off
a r e b e g i n n i n g to g e t the drift that
ranting and raving about something, and
chicken and e g g thing here. But it's just
an absurd a r g u m e n t as far as I ' m c o n ­
DINNERSTEIN: N i x o n didn't have a
then he works the J e w s into it. W h i c h is
cerned: "I have a right to be anti-Semit­
particular animus toward J e w s . H e had a
the u l t i m a t e e x p r e s s i o n of s u c h a n t i -
ic because the J e w s are out to get m e . "
particular animus toward everybody who
Semitism: J e w as scapegoat.
A
Above: Alan Greenspan, (second f r o m left), H e r b e r t Stein (third f r o m left) at a m e e t i n g of t h e Council of Economic Advisors in 1 9 8 0 .
If Nixon" was an anti-Semite, why did he appoint
so many Jews to high-level positions?
P A R M E T : K i s s i n g e r ' s b a c k g r o u n d is
obviously g o i n g to m a k e h i m b e sensi­
t i v e to a n t i - S e m i t i s m . K i s s i n g e r w a s
intelligent and he understood
where
Nixon was c o m i n g from. T h a t would be
true of all of them. T o a certain extent it
was praiseworthy that c o m i n g from the
background h e did, that h e could func­
t i o n as h e d i d w i t h J e w s a r o u n d h i m .
People w h o t r y to defend h i m say things
like h e h a d so m a n y J e w s around h i m .
But h e w a s g u i l t y of s a y i n g stuff that I
could n o t r e p e a t to y o u a n d t h a t u g l y
stuff can o n l y c o m e from someone w h o
has bigotry and hatred in his system.
Above: President Nixon, Henry Kissinger a n d
Donald Rumsfeld in Belgium in 1 9 7 4 .
"Ylixon uxai, kind a $ like, a
15th-centuAy. (Una- tu-ho- iiued
iti an anti-Semitic kingdom,
except that in, the, king's.
couAt, Pie had fiouA, OA |une
fcuLi,
aAound to. handle, legal
and pnancial siu§£.... tie, can
(mu- the, SieAeotype that fcwi.
uneAe SmaAt: 'B'una. me, SmaAt
fcwiih adviioAS..' And afa
cauAbe, he, had a dii^iAopuAtionatelu. iaAae, num&eA [o£
fcutA,],
uxAen one,
thinks, about it."
GREENBERG: It's straight out of [Jean
KUTLER: Nixon w a s kind of like a
P a u l ] Sartre's Anti-Semite
1 5 t h - c e n t u r y k i n g w h o lived i n an a n t i -
create these exceptions w h o aren't real
S e m i t i c k i n g d o m , except that in the
J e w s or don't fit t h e category. It m e a n s
k i n g ' s court, h e h a d four o r five J e w s
that y o u start w i t h a stereotypical con­
and Jew. You
a r o u n d to h a n d l e l e g a l a n d f i n a n c i a l
ception of what a J e w is or should be in
stuff. S o h e t h o u g h t t h e J e w s w e r e
y o u r i m a g i n a t i o n , a n d t h e n those w h o
s m a r t , a n d t h e r e f o r e h e fills u p h i s
don't conform to it are exceptions, or not
administration with Jews. On the one
real J e w s , so t h e y ' r e okay. W h y did h e
hand he can be anti-Semitic in gener­
choose to view Kissinger, or G a r m e n t or
al, a n d o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , h e c a n b u y
H e r b Stein or someone else, as an excep­
the stereotype that J e w s V e r e smart:
tion? W e l l , probably because he liked
" B r i n g m e s m a r t J e w i s h advisors." A n d
them, and they acted in ways that h e
of c o u r s e , h e h a d a d i s p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y
admired or found supportive. J e w s w h o
large number
are helping to promote his agenda then
t h i n k s a b o u t it.
[of J e w s ] , w h e n o n e
become exceptions.